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Football fans who were lucky enough to get tickets for Super Bowl XXVI, which will be played Sunday in Minneapolis, can cart home a souvenir beverage cup manufactured at Packer Plastics in Lawrence.

John Landgrebe, sales manager of Packer's plastic cup division, said the company shipped about 125,000 game cups to the Minneapolis Metrodome last week.

The design on the cups, which come in 24-ounce and 30-ounce sizes, features the helmets of the two Super Bowl contenders, the Buffalo Bills and Washington Redskins, and the Super Bowl logo.

BECAUSE THE design is specific to the teams playing, Landgrebe said the local plant wasn't able to begin printing until after the playoffs concluded Jan. 12. However, the company began contingency planning a few weeks in advance.

"When we get down to the quarter-finals, when we get down to eight teams, then we make up all the art work and sit on it," he said.

The company prepares the actual plates for printing the cups when just four teams remain. The local plant then was ready to begin printing almost immediately after the conclusion of the division championship games Jan. 12.

Landgrebe said the order was processed without Packer employees having to work overtime.

PACKER HAS supplied Super Bowl cups for at least three years, Landgrebe said. Whether Packer gets the contract for the Super Bowl cups depends on whether the company already has a contract in place with the stadium in which the game is played. In this case, Packer already had a contract with Volume Services Corp., which operates concessions in the Minneapolis stadium.

Landgrebe said the company also has supplied souvenir cups for World Series games, college football bowl games, NCAA basketball tournament games, including the Final Four, and the Master's Golf Tournament.